The Void
by BlackLabyrinth07
Summary: Perhaps, there was no greater purpose to her existence… Perhaps, she was simply losing her mind – trying to find meaning in nothing – like so many had done before her. Trapped in this place that was neither here, nor there. A domain of nothingness…


_Author's Note: This work is inspired by the fanfiction RWBY series 'The Death of Destiny' by SimplyKorra._

* * *

**The Void**

The air was damp, cold, and unrelenting in its oppression upon the poor souls of those who were lost to the abyss. What light that could be seen by those in the depths of the cavern was emitted by crystalline stalactites and stalagmites that emitted an eerie purple glow to push back the darkest of shadows.

Where one once heard the sweet sounds of birds chirping at the dawning of the new day, the blissful sounds had been replaced by the rattling of strained breaths and the clanking of oiled chains. The laughter of children playing in the yard were but distant memories replaced by the deranged wails of those who had lost their minds in the void.

Relentless and unknowing of what lay beyond the _beyond_…

Most who entered the domain, rarely by choice, had their very humanity stripped away from what was left of their souls. The years trapped in the abyss rendering those held against their will a husk of the shell of the person they once were.

Most, but not all.

Once bright and vibrant clothes were reduced to little more than rags, her skin cracked and dirty beyond healthy. Lean muscles that long ago held strength from years of training had faded away. And her eyes, which once held so much power, were dull and sunken into her skull. The prisoner, like most who entered, was on the threshold of withering away into nothingness. Now, sitting huddled in the corner of her cell, the woman's fate was no different than those who walked the face of Remnant before her.

Time would soon claim that what which it is owed.

From Dust she was born and into Dust she will return.

That is, if it were not for this cursed land...

The walls around her, which had once lain bare, were covered in little small lines that the prisoner had painstakingly carved with a loose stone in some fruitless attempt to mark the duration of her captivity. She had no way of truly knowing how much time had passed since she had been placed in this cell to rot in the depths of this forsaken land. Thus, every time she awoke from her slumber she would scratch the walls with a small tally marker. While not the most exact of a science, it did help the captive keep some semblance of time…

And what time had passed indeed. If her attempt at keeping time was even remotely correct, than tonight marked the 5,286th day of her captivity. Or roughly 14 and a half years on the mortal plane.

Mortal, in that wherever she was simply did not adhere to the rules that the 'normal' world held.

For this was not the mortal world…

This was the void.

Dark and imposing.

Everything and nothing.

All concepts of time were meaningless in this abyss.

Logic told her that time was passing; it simply had to be…

But if she grew old at all it was at an alarmingly slow pace, only the minuscule length of her nails and matted hair convince her that time was indeed passing while she was trapped in her cell. The second, and perhaps more obvious clue that this place was cursed, was that she – along with the other prisoners – required very little food and water in order to be kept alive. She was never given enough substance to be comfortable, but yet was never starved.

This alone led the prisoner to believe that her captivity lead to a greater purpose in that she was being kept alive for some twisted reason.

She had to be.

Otherwise she would lose her mind in the void.

For the alternative was a maddening cycle…

… Simply existing for the sake of existence itself.

Thus, she held hope that her perpetual state of being retained a greater meaning.

But as to what reason for her survival had yet to be made known.

Perhaps, there was no greater purpose to her existence…

Perhaps, she was simply losing her mind – trying to find meaning in nothing – like so many had done before her.

Trapped in this place that was neither here, nor there.

A domain of nothingness…

The cavernous room in which she was held was lined with dozens of cells, resembling the same size and shape as the one in which she was being held captive. They lined the room on both sides of a long corridor, one cell able to peer into the other across from them. And yet, where this corridor led, the prisoner did not know, but not without great effort on her part to find out.

Steel bars left the front of her cell completely open to the dimly lit walkway, with little allowance between the restraints to allow for the bone-thin woman to slip away. Even if she was able by some miracle to break through the cell, her wrists and legs were changed together with a glowing purple device that attached to her oiled chains, which had long ago rubbed her extremities raw.

In the early days of her captivity, the prisoner tried to use their Semblance to break through their confinement only to find the glowing chains, and perhaps even the glowing crystals that lined the cells, acted as an Aura dampener and effectively rendered the wearer to be a mere mortal once more - not the trained Huntress they were.

The prisoner had no knowledge of where they were on Remnant – if they were still on Remnant – but rather that they simply existed. In this plane of being, in the in between…

But wherever she was, she was not alone.

Over the last few years, if they could be called that, the woman observed with growing trepidation and unease as the occupants of the cell across cavern to her own were caught in a cycle of unknown inhabitants. Some were imprisoned for only a few days before disappearing the next time the woman woke from her slumber. When she was lucky, the inmate of the opposite cell would remain for years – although with each of these people, their state of mind was often compromised, offering little to no word of news of the outside world besides disjointed mumblings and incoherent muttering.

… And there were some days that those placed in the cell lay unmoving, their bodies on the brink of death. These people were barely more than corpses reanimated for a sinister purpose, often for _Her _bidding.

Such seemed to be the case with the latest person that had been forced into the cell.

Covered in blood from an injury on her leg and what should have been fatal wound to her chest, the state of her clothes and damaged armor claimed the young woman as a Huntress – one that had met her end to those who would master death.

Whatever black magic, or otherwise, had been done to bring the girl back from the very brink of existence had ultimately shattered her sanity. Only bits and fragments remained of memories that floated around her mind behind wide, scared electric green eyes.

The woman wasn't able to get a lot out of the girl across the hall. Only that she had been there at the Fall, not that the prisoner knew what the Fall was.

But sometimes, things would seem to 'click' into place in the young woman's mind. It was in these moments that the woman got a glimpse of the Huntress that was from before: a girl hailing from Argus, knowing only fame and fortune had found solace in her friends, a talented fighter, and someone possessing a bleeding heart with a cursed fate…

It took over the course of a year to learn her name, and several months more to learn those of her partner and other teammates from Beacon Academy.

… Beacon.

The word sparked a vivid memory…

A pair of battle axes on fields of green and red fluttering in the wind.

A Huntsman and Huntress each wielding weapons of their craft watching over the courtyard on an outcropping of jutting stone. Below their feet stood a raging Beowolf, the Grimm posing little threat as long as the Huntsman kept it at bay. A small pool of koi fish lay at its feet; their scales glinted in the sunlight as they swam in lazy circles in the evening sunlight.

The prisoner smacked the side of her skull with the flat of her palm, trying to keep the images that floated in her mind from fading.

Push and pull…

… Lux and Obscurum.

The Brothers of Light and Darkness standing over an iridescent pool of water as a young blonde woman wept at their feet, a staff of immense power clutched in her palms.

Just as the prisoner struggled to grasp what was real and what was an illusion born from entering the void, so too did those trapped within the walls of this cavern.

And tonight seemed to be one of those times that the young woman across the cavern had a tentative hold on reality. With timid words and long pauses, she was retelling a tale of lost love and kept promises. Her words echoed off the dark and damp walls breaking the otherwise morose sounds that filled the cavern.

"He wore a dress to the school dance… just for me. Can you believe that?" The girl across the hall chuckled causing the prisoner to smile at the action. It was rare indeed to see someone find any sort of happiness in this realm. And for the girl to laugh was a great feat of its own, the action would have rendered the other girl weak and breathless before she recovered from her wounds.

The woman hummed in understanding, a brief memory of her teammates pulling elaborate pranks on one another, and other grand gestures to seek their partner's attention.

A brief memory flashed across her mind…

… Something about a kilt. Or was it a skirt?

'_Like what you see?'_

'_What an idiot – talk about having a bird brain.'_

'_Give him a break… it's not like my brother and I trained at one of those fancy combat schools.'_

The prisoner gritted her teeth in an effort to retain the fading memory. A pair of red eyes flashed in her mind, replaced by the brightest blue.

'_What are we going to do? This is not exactly a conventional family.'_

'_Is it ever when it involves teammates?'_

'_We'll make this work, we always do…'_

The prisoner shut her eyes tight, willing the memories to stay before they were lost.

'_Gods, Oz would have a field day if he knew she was mine.'_

'_Nobody will know. She has my eyes after all.'_

'_Which is why she will have your name too.'_

'_You don't have to be alone anymore. __I'll take care of you.'_

'_It's rotten work.'_

'_Not to me. Not if it's you.'_

As suddenly as the memories flooded over her, they were gone, leaving the woman with a hollow ache deep in her chest.

She sighed, but let a small smile grace her cracked lips. "I believe that people will do crazy things when they're in love."

"He never loved me." The girl spoke softly, drawing up her knees to her chest as her chains rattled with the movement.

The woman nodded in understanding. "Perhaps not, but you must have meant a lot to him for Jaune to keep his promise."

The girl's eyes slid out of focus, the green irises turning the deepest red that flicked and threatened to take over. "Promises, promises… Shattered like the moon. Oh, the moon. Why does its light call to me?" With her words came red vein-like webs that formed over her chest and up her neck, crawling towards her arms.

"Pyrrha, stay with me." The woman urged, her chains rattled as the woman gripped the front bars of her cage in concern. The girl shook her head, matted ginger hair cascading down her shoulders with the vigorous movements as if to dispel something floating in her mind. The red poison that crept up her body slowly pulled away as the younger woman regained her sanity.

"Sorry…. Yes… I guess so." A ghost of a smile appeared once more on the girl's gaunt face. "Jaune would go out of his way to make me happy. No wonder he got along so well with Ruby. Our teams were so alike in so many ways…"

The prisoner's heart rate spiked, her breath caught in her throat as she asked her next question. "Wait, who's Ruby?"

But the girl was no longer listening, trapped in a spiral of thoughts. "Ruby red – red like roses… Falling _slowly_. Falling… fall."

"Pyrrha, who is Ruby?! Pyrrha!" The woman's shouts rang in the echoing dim.

But the girl was gone once more. The red tendrils had crawled up her chest and into her eyes, the brightest green changed to the bloody hue that spoke of the young girl's insanity.

Lost in the haze the darkness provided, they became a remnant of the soul they once were.

"Damn it!" The prisoner shouted at no one as she banged her bound hands against the bars that held her in her personal hell. Sighed in defeat she walked back into the shadows of her cell and slid the ground, covering her face with her hands.

She was so close this time… A few minutes more and she might have had her answers.

Before she could lament on her loss, the shrieking of metal caught her attention forcing the prisoner to look up at the end of the cavern where a grand staircase stood. The sound of multiple sets of footsteps could be heard as the prisoner squinted her sunken eyes at those who slowly descended into the dimly lit chamber.

Her eyes flickered in recognition at the small party of people who were approaching the far end of the row of cells. A hulking man that the prisoner had learned was named Hazel trailed behind the group, closing the door behind him. Two teenagers flanked him on either side, one dressed in shades of grey and black, the other having mint green hair and deep red eyes. But the one who stood proudly in the front of the group was Salem herself.

The young man with the grey hair was watching each cell they past with disdain in their steel grey eyes, his brow scrunched in confusion. "Why are we here?"

"There's an old saying… When you want something to be done right, do it yourself." Hazel's gruff voice echoed around the cavern, his cryptic words only summoning more questions than answers.

"Yeah, well that explains the Grimm…" The teenager scoffed as he pointed a finger to the stone ceiling above, the crystalline Aura dampening stalactites and stalagmites casting them in a warm purple glow. "But this? This is just weird."

"Mercury…" The girl with the green hair warned, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Emerald, we've been here for almost a month now and during all this time you don't think it's a little odd that we've been sitting over a secret dungeon?" Mercury waved a fingerless gloved hand around the dimly lit cavern, his eyes lingering on the huddled masses that groaned from the corners of their cells. "Are you really trying to tell me that you don't have a few questions?"

"You're right." The girl, which the prisoner now knew to be Emerald, held her arms in front of her as red eyes nervously flitted around the dim area. "What… What is this place?"

Their footsteps echoed off the cold, worn stone as they walked deeper into the main chamber of what appeared to be a dungeon.

Hazel turned to face his companions, his low rumbling voice echoed in the cavernous chamber. "This is where hope goes to die."

Mercury glanced at his partner before grey eyes scanned the dim for answers to unseen questions. "Okay then… That would explain _some _things. But why are we here?"

"Mercury!"

"Emerald, the boy is entitled to answers as are you… At least, as long as you both remain in my favor." Salem spoke firmly as she led her followers down the rows upon rows of cells, her red-glowing eyes lingering on each possible hopeless soul. "We have come here because Ozpin has chosen his champion: the silver-eyed warrior. Now it is time to choose mine."

They slowed down until they arrived to the cell directly across the cavernous hall from the woman in rags' own cell. The prisoner stood from the floor and slowly approached the front of her cell to better watch her tormentors with apprehension.

"And you want her?" Emerald's eyes widened in recognition, her voice expressing her disbelief at who she saw chained to the wall. "Pyrrha Nikos?"

"I thought she was dead?" Mercury spat his face turning into a sneer, only his arms crossing displaying his true discomfort.

"Death is an illusion." Hazel's voice rumbled as his eyes narrowed. "Within these walls, nothing is sacred and nothing is certain. Not even death."

Emerald shot Mercury look of unease, neither knowing what to say in response.

"Everyone has their part to play if for things to run smoothly." Salem's voice echoed around the cavern, her voice leaving no room for argument. Not that they would be stupid enough to challenge the Mistress of Grimm. "And this part is hers."

The woman felt her breath catch in her throat as she watched Salem turn her unnaturally glowing eyes on the young Huntress who was so lost in her own mind that the warrior was unaware of her audience.

"Raise, my chosen champion." Salem spoke, her voice cold and clear in the dim, raising a dark veined hand towards Pyrrha's huddled form.

As soon as Salem raised her hand, the red lines protruding from Pyrrha's skin glowed brightly. The young Huntress gasped and convulsed in pain as the corruption crawled over her limbs, the surrounding skin turn black – her body slowly changing until it was lifeless and dead in appearance.

"What is your command, Mistress?" Pyrrha's eyes burned red, the shadows around her sunken eyes became so dark it was as if she was wearing a mask of smoke.

Salem laced her fingers together; her voice measured proving apathetic to the torment of her chosen champion. "Ozpin and his followers have arrived at Atlas. If they secure the Relic of Knowledge as well as convince Ironwood to help them, then all of our hard work will be for not. You will go to Atlas under the guidance of Watts and Tyrian and you will kill them all, starting with the silver-eyed warrior."

"The… silver-eyed warrior?" Pyrrha frowned, before she shouted in pain. Her red veined arms gripped at her skull as her eyes flickering from red to green. The prisoner watched in horror as Pyrrha smashed a closed fist into her head, as if trying to bash out the memories that flooded through her mind.

"Silver… eyed. Red, so much red." Pyrrha muttered in confusion, her chains rattling as she slapped the side of her head repeatedly.

"Dear Gods, she's lost her mind…" Emerald whispered, watching with eyes wide with impending terror at what had become of their old acquaintance.

"Indeed, and what a shame it is…" Salem spoke indifferently, watching the tormented Huntress start scratching her forearms until the skin broke, lines of crimson blood appearing against lightly tanned skin.

"Red! Red like roses… White is cold – yearning," Pyrrha's voice raised until it was in a register that mirrored her hysterics. "_Always yearning_… Black-the-**BEAST**-_black-_and-blue. Blue of the hottest flame. Burning gold… gold… golden arcs!"

"Ozpin was right to choose her for the Fall Maiden's powers. The girl poses an honest, pure soul… One of light." Salem cocked her head to the side, simply watching the internal struggle that was ripping Pyrrha' psyche apart. "But the greater the light, the deeper the shadow… Rise, champion." Salem ordered as she tensed her fingers, the harsh glow of the corruption in Pyrrha's body threatening to burn through her skin.

"You're right, Em… She's nuts!" Mercury backed up slightly as Pyrrha suddenly jerked forward, her chains restraining her body from flying directly into the metal bars of her cell.

"**GOLD!** Goooolden arcs…. Arc! Pink and Green… Green and Pink. Back and forth, back and forth – strong bonds, one of red; _Fate!_ One...one of silver? Silverrr… eyes, so many eyes. Watching me? Mourning… _me?_ … Silver?" Pyrrha jerked her head to the side so that her wild stare landed on the women imprisoned across the hall who had been watching the whole terrifying affair. "Silver! **SILVER-EYED WARRIOR!**"

The prisoner flinched, but was unable to turn her eyes away as the young woman before her was on the brink of insanity once more.

"Ruby!" Pyrrha gasped as she fell to her knees, her eyes a startling green. For the first time since the red-headed warrior had been dragged lifeless to this cavern, she was completely sane. "Oh Gods, Ruby! No, please – My friends… Nora! Ren! **JAUNE!**"

"**SILENCE!**" Salem roared as she clenched her fist, what little light emanating from the glowing crystals was dimmed until the room swam with the power of darkness. The temperature, which had always been chilly, dropped so that the woman could see burst of silver mist with each labored breath.

Pyrrha's head jerked up at the sound of Salem's command. Her once vibrantly green eyes were tainted red, the veins of the corruption radiating from her chest and up into her eyes.

"Of course… It will be done." The defeated warrior's voice was hollow, and echoed in the dark cavern.

Gone was Pyrrha Nikos, and in her place was the animated corpse that Salem held clutched in the palm of her hands.

The prisoner shivered in her own cell, the display of black magic and the dark power of Grimm making her recoil in an instinctive fear.

Salem lowered her clenched fist, her face relaxing into a pleased grin. "Good."

"No! No not her, please!" The words tore through the prisoner's raw throat without her consent as she threw her chained body at the bars of her cell. Her chains rattled wildly as she attempted to break free of her chamber. "They will kill her without hesitation, without knowing who she is!"

Her matted hair whipped around her head, the woman's outburst gaining the attention of the group of captors from across the cavern. "You are forcing her to _slaughter _her loved ones… If they don't get to her first. That is a fate worse than death." Her voice was laced with anguish as she pleaded for them to listen to her plight. "Please… Take me instead!"

Her pleas were answered with silence as her tormentors watched her with various expressions of dismay and apathy.

All but one.

"Emerald, what's wrong?" Hazel turned to face the teenager, who had taken a step closer to the prisoner's cell, her red eyes widening in shock.

Emerald's eyes flicked over the withered form of the woman dressed in rags and covered in years of filth. "That prisoner. She - she looks like…"

"... _Her_." Mercury explained for her, placing a hand on Emerald's shoulder in confirmation.

Emerald's eyes widened upon realization of just who was watching them with sunken eyes. "Why is she here?!" The girl shouted in confusion, her body turned away from the one who stood before them in chains.

"That's none of your concern." Hazel's deep rumbling voice broke Emerald from the spell that seemed a hold of her, the young girl snapping back into reality from whatever thoughts plagued her mind.

The prisoner's mind filled with endless questions at the Emerald's outburst. But her attention focused on the fact that she now held the group's undivided attention. When she spoke, her voice was strong with passion. "I have lived a full life, use me to do your bidding, but don't make her kill her own loved ones. Pyrrha will not know what she has done until after her curse is lifted. What you are asking her to do will _kill _her, if her friends don't kill her first."

Salem watched the prisoner, one of her eyebrows raised until the woman in rag's words died down. "All the more reason to send her instead." The Mistress of Grimm gestured lazily at the corrupted form of Pyrrha. "Our opposition takes their pain and sorrow and uses it as their strength, their hope to fight. We need to take that hope and snuff it out. And what better way to do that then to have them kill each other?"

The woman's eyes widened in terror, her words coming out in a hoarse shout. "You… You monster!"

Eyes, once sunken and dull, flashed with emotion as they emitted a strange glow before bursting forth in a wave of purified Aura. Unrestrained, pure light radiated from the prisoner's silver eyes, her eyes shining like mirrors - a beacon of light in the darkness that threatened to engulf humanity.

But before the prisoner could focus her devastating eyes on Salem, their light lost its spark. The woman blinked rapidly, gritting her teeth in frustration as the power behind her eyes faded into nothingness.

"That will not work here. It is futile to try." Salem's voice was surprisingly calm, uncaring of the woman's valiant, but useless efforts to strip the darkness from Salem's immortal soul. "Your power comes from the light, and you will find no such thing here."

"You're wrong! So long as there is even one of us standing – Even if it is the simplest of souls – then there lies a spark of hope…" Her words were cut off as the light was sucked out of the room by one wave of Salem's hand, plunging them all in pitch black darkness.

"Do not go quoting that _monster _in front of me!" Salem yelled, her calm composure broken as she gestured upward with both straining arms. At her vigorous motion, a dozen Grimm tentacle-like hands reached from a pooling patch of darkness at the prisoner's feet.

Salem allowed the Grimm to claw their way around the prisoner's slender body and force the woman in rags to her knees."Your trust and loyalty in Ozpin is misplaced."

The woman struggled against her soulless restraints, her fight in vain as she was clearly subdued.

The soft glow from the purple crystals that formed in the cavern returned.

Salem sighed, watching the woman with tired eyes. "Why do you fight? I know you found the Relic of Knowledge and used her powers…"

The woman's dull silver eyes widened in surprise. "How…?"

Salem nodded, her movements almost lazy as if she we're bored by the entire encounter. "Yes, you see… Ozpin is not the only one with eyes and ears on Remnant. Now I know Jinn told you my tale, as well as that there is no hope of destroying me. Give up your useless endeavor. The light cannot win!"

"You're wrong, Salem…" The woman fought long enough to force herself to stare into the red, soulless eyes of her captor. "So long as there is darkness in this world then there too shall be light. One cannot exist without the other. My eyes are proof of that balance."

Salem's glowing red eyes locked with the woman's own. "You're right… You and your kind hold the only known power on Remnant to put an end to my crusade against Ozpin and humanity. Which is why you shall remain here where I can keep an eye on you. Years will pass, and those whom you hold dear in your heart will live and die. But you will remain unchanged – frozen as time slows to a crawl. So long as I shall walk upon the face of this world, you will remain here with the others until there is nothing left of your humanity to save."

Deep thundering words that went unheard to all but the woman, whose mind was lost to haze of blue smoke, seemed to scream in her ears.

'_You thought there was no greater punishment we could bestow upon you?'_

"No…" The woman's dull silver eyes widened in fear, the truth behind Salem's words sinking in.

'… _You cannot die.'_

"I bestow on you the curse given to me…"

'_You cannot be with your beloved.'_

"No… Please!" The woman was shouting, her cries falling on deaf ears. "Please, just kill me!"

"Just as the Gods showed me no such mercy, I will show you the same courtesy." Salem ignored her pleas as the Mistress of Grimm waved for Hazel to remove Pyrrha's chains.

Once the corrupted warrior was released, Pyrrha's Grimm-like eyes glanced at the prisoner's way – her eyes unseeing. Flanked by Hazel and the two troubled teenagers, the warrior was marched up the stone staircase and into the castle that stood in the heart of the domain of darkness.

Salem turned her attention back to the prisoner who knelt on the floor, chained hands clutching the metal barrier. "And after I _slaughter _your daughter, you will be the end of your line. And your silver-eyes with it."

"You won't get away with this, Salem! Ozpin will stop you! **I WILL KILL YOU!**" The chained woman's words echoed around the cavern, her shouts loud enough to pierce through the fog that filled the other prisoners' minds throughout the chamber.

All eyes were on the woman who was brave enough to challenge death herself.

Salem merely waved off the woman's words. "Your cries are meaningless in the void… No one can hear you down here, and no one will find you."

The prisoner lunged at Salem, the Grimm hands along with her chains restricting the woman's movements. The Aura dampening crystals glowed bright purple, their presence forcibly blocking her Semblance from activating. The woman snarled as her silver eyes flashed blindingly white with light for less than a second before it flicked in-and-out of existence in pale flashes.

The light fighting against the crippling void.

Even activated for the length of a heartbeat, the force of her powers was enough to turn the Grimm limbs holding her in place to ash. Only her chains and the walls of her cell held her place.

However, despite her efforts, Salem was unaffected by the prisoner's violent outburst. The Mistress of Grimm watched the woman's desperate attempt on her life an amused hint of a smile gracing blackened lips. Salem reached forward through the bars until her long fingers clutched the woman's jutting chin.

"This is the beginning of the end, Summer Rose…"

Salem paused, watching as her words took their effect on her captive audience.

"Remnant, along with its _pitiful _humanity, will fall… And I can't wait to watch it burn."

And with that, Salem released Summer's jaw, the harsh movement forcing the Huntress' face to hang low in defeat. Her once powerful silver eyes fading into their dull shine.

With the Huntress' inner-light gone, the cavern was filled with darkness.

The void swallowing the prisoner whole once more.


End file.
